South Kesteven is among four areas in Greater Lincolnshire with infection rates more than twice as high as the England average, despite an Easter weekend fall in rates.

North Lincolnshire, South Holland, Boston and South Kesteven all have infection rates of more than 96 per 100,000 of the population, over double that of England's average of 43.9.

Eight of the nine districts have seen a decrease in their infection rates since Good Friday, with the largest fall in North Lincolnshire – a third. However, the authority still has one of the highest rates in the country, ranked 11th.

North Lincolnshire's latest epidemiology report put this down to more testing with children returning to schools. North Lincolnshire Council has been contacted for further information.

Despite its high infection rate for the past few weeks, North Lincolnshire has seen a large drop and is now at a similar level to South Holland's infection rate.

South Holland and Boston have had some of the highest national infection rates since the pandemic started, with health bosses putting this down to a lot of the districts' population working in employment areas with low income or low hours such as agency work, farming and factories.

As a result, some may fear taking time off work to self-isolate for financial reasons. For instance, more than a quarter of South Holland is employed in food manufacturing.

Lincoln and North Kesteven have the lowest infection rates in the region and are lower than the England average, which could be put down to fewer jobs in manufacturing goods.

West Lindsey has seen a drop of almost 50% in the last week. On March 26, it was revealed that the district had seen a care home outbreak where residents have been vaccinated.

Overall, Greater Lincolnshire has fallen by around 20 infections per 100,000 from March 29, but remains nearly double the England average.

Professor Derek Ward, director for public health at Lincolnshire County Council, said: "The more important question I think is how many people are ending up in hospital and sadly how many people are losing their lives to COVID."

However, he added that infection rates are "definitely coming down very significantly and that's really good news."